A wide-open view of the practice of street photography by Michael David Murphy, While Seated.

Recontextualizations

Kenneth Goldsmith is a poet who transcribes radio reports from 1010 WINS & retypes the New York Times & transcribes entire Yankee games. If we relieve art of imagination, we’re left with the verity of exactly what’s in front of our noses, which, in a not-so-roundabout way, sounds similar to a good deal of contemporary photography.

I appreciate an act of documentary that’s so complete, it’s a carbon copy of what happened. What happened? The 1010 WINS traffic report happened, and here it is, exactly, as before — so why does it sound so different, so mysterious, so evocative? (Sound like photography, yet?)

Gotta love the folks out on the edge, making the rest of us furrow our brows.

3 thoughts on “Recontextualizations”

Old idea. I take it you’ve read Pierre Menard, author of el Quixote by JL Borges? Such a great short story. About ten pages exploring all the limits about the concept of somebody reinventing something already done.